Two restaurants have opened recently that are a different kind of venue for Russellville. Market 311 on South Arkansas and Linh Vietnamese Cuisine on Knoxville both bring new flavor to the Arkansas River Valley.

Market 311 prides itself on being “the market where recipes are made with local, farm fresh ingredients.” It opened for business Friday and is already generating quite a buzz.

“I just created the Facebook page three days ago, and we already have over 100 likes,” co-owner Jill Duvall said.

Duvall and Michelle Irwin are co-owners and credit the talk to not another restaurant of its kind in the area.

“I think it’s a desire of everyone to have local food. People want to support local businesses,” Duvall said.

All of the ingredients they use are fresh, including fresh-made bread from The Cake Place. In addition, Duvall and Irwin intend to use vegetables from local farmers and the farmer’s market to keep all of the business local.

“We want to support Russellville first, then Pope County, and then Arkansas,” Irwin said. “I mean I got the vegetables out of my garden this morning.”

The venture came about because the women said they wanted something fun to do and were frustrated by a lack of healthy, drive-thru food in Russellville. Although they were orginally thinking of a sit-down restaurant, when they discovered the old Rally’s location was owned by Peggy Talkington, they were sold.

“We thought it was a cool place, that it had a lot of character. There really isn’t anything drive through down here,” Duvall said.

Market 311 is located at 311 S. Arkansas and is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.

Linh Vietnamese Cuisine has been in business for five weeks and has stayed busy since its opening. It is also a different type of food for the area, and that is what owner Phuong Phan credited for its success.

“It is healthy food,” Phan said. “Everything is grilled. We don’t use oil. It is all rice and noodles.”

She said she also feels that propelled an interest in the restaurant. People are happy because it is something new. Phan has lived in Russellville for six years and saw the need for this type of establishment. She had worked at a similar restaurant in Fort Smith, saw the popularity and knew it could be successful here.

“I never thought I had the money to buy a building and own a restaurant,” she said. “But I saw that this space was open and I knew it would be a good location. So I bought it.”

Lunch time is definitely more busy, as Phan said as there are many doctors and office people who come to eat there. The night crowd has been more Arkansas Tech University students and younger people.

Linh Vietnamese Cuisine, located at 624 S. Knoxville Ave., is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.